Unmet Need for Medical Care: The Role of Mental Health Status

Mental health status is an important factor to consider when exploring correlates of unmet need for medical care and prescription drugs. This paper explores whether self-rated mental health status is associated with unmet need and delays in obtaining medical care and prescription drugs. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression with 27,305 non-institutionalized adults aged 18 and older from the 2012 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey explore factors associated with self-reported unmet need for medical care and prescriptions, as well as access delays. Patients with lower physical and mental health status had the highest odds of experiencing unmet need for medical care and prescriptions, as well as access delays. These findings highlight the importance of increasing access to a usual source of care among individuals with lower self-rated mental health status as a strategy for addressing unmet need.